Fourteen year old Sora lived on the white sandy beaches of the great Destiny Islands with Riku, who was his rival and Kairi, who was his girlfriend. All three were great friends; they played on the island in the mornings, in the noon they did sword fights (with wooden ones of course) and in the sunset they would sit by the old paopu tree and discuss about visiting other places, hoping that one day, they would be lifted out of their grey existence on that small island with nothing in front of them but an ocean.
One night, while preparing a raft that would take them out to sea, a dark hurricane whirled the island to smithereens before consuming it entirely and scattering its inhabitants in different locations. Sora felt as if he were going up in a balloon until he landed with a soft crash in the alleyway of a sunless Victorian village called Traverse Town. There he met a wizard of a duck named Donald Duck and a funny dog in shining armor called Goofy Goof, whom like Sora, were searching for their master King Mickey Mouse, the ruling sovereign of a kingdom called Disney Town who had disappeared while negotiating the affairs of several stars that blinked out in a Zodiac pattern. Having also gained the experience of the Keyblade, a legendary weapon that could seal and unlock the core of worlds, Sora decided to tag along; hoping that the duck and dog would take him to Riku and Kairi.
Ignoring the negative traits of his newfound friends and the threats of his newly formed enemies that controlled the mysterious beings of dark and shadow known as the "Heartless", Sora had taken off a two-year adventure; travelling to many planet-like worlds and a fortress of white and silver in hopes that those who lived there had seen Riku, Kairi or the little mouse king. Piece-by-piece, Sora found out that he was a religious savior and a balance to restore the universe needed to save those who were related to him in spirit, blood and kinship.
Across the galaxy, travelling amongst a great war between 7 brightnesses and 13 darknesses, Sora, the King, his discovered family and new friends fought bravely against the forces of the wicked sorceress Maleficent and the corrupted elder Master Xehanort, who wanted to use Kingdom Hearts, the universe's epicenter, to reshape the worlds in his own image and rule over them like a god. With the combined strength of the seven lights, Sora finally gave Master Xehanort his just reward, putting an end to the insane man and creating a new life of a less strict enforcement in the universe.
With no Heartless, no Nobodies, no Unversed or any Dream Eaters to derail them, Sora was happy to have retired in a universe at peace. But one could only imagine that he still liked to visit other worlds with Goofy and Donald for both business and pleasurable purposes a decade later. Now twenty six years old, Sora and his two sidekicks travelled to another set of unexplored worlds, sharing the history of the Keyblade, the schematics of the worlds they had previously encountered and the story of how they came to be.
It was the start of a new exploitation tour and in their Gummi Spaceship; Donald had selected their upcoming destination on a navigational GPS map of the universe. The intended location was San Fransokyo, a high tech metropolis that lay nestled on the banks of America's west coast of California, but Japanese democrats were in fifty percent control of the city's government and economic system as their own way of making amends for all the wrongdoings that occurred between the two countries, including the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945. As a result of this peace treaty, the culture, cuisine, architecture and stamina of San Fransokyo was a hybrid of eastern and western influences: Traditional lamps hung with neon colored light bulbs and trolleys, helium inflated airships sponsored digital media, advertising billboards were shown in the form of jumbotrons, bridges were grand and scaled in the superiority of art, the music was a colorful tapestry of the sounds of shamisens intertwined with jazz, and food was lovingly prepared in quaint little restaurants both cooked the long way or the short way. It truly was a fast paced city, and perhaps, a nice place to live as well.
Abiding the former laws of the universe that stated no interference with the affairs of other worlds, Donald landed the Gummi ship at a small pier littered with fishing boats and private yachts, making it look as though they had come off the tourist boat that was docked nearby. The Gummi ship had recently been fitted with an inflatable raft to keep it from sinking in any form of water. Donald was the first to exit the ship, followed by Goofy and Sora through the windshield that also acted a door for passengers. As they walked down the lonely pier, greeting a couple of fishmongers as they walked past, the adventurous trio did not know what lay in store for them in the events that were yet to come.
Like many other worlds and planets that Sora had visited on his travels, San Fransokyo had its heroes: one famous, one not-so-famous. And one of these heroes that Sora was about to meet (the famous one) was a man whose mind as fast as machine gun fire, and a hide as tough as a bullet proof vest. A detective on the police force, no doubt. Despite all odds his objective was to crack every case that came his way, and bring the riff raff to justice. Beneath that trench coat of his was a real law enforcement machine with a soft spot for society's weak, vulnerable, and innocent. Physically he was about 31 years old with dark hair, dark eyes, a hawk-like nose, a square jaw and wore a black suit with black boots, a red and black striped necktie, a bright yellow trench coat and a matching fedora with a black band around it. His name was...
Dick Tracy and he was San Fransokyo's number one crime fighter until that fateful day when his detective skills were superseded by the heroics of the superhero group, Big Hero 6. And this is how it all began:
Dick Tracy and those connected to him-his friends, family and foes-were the kind of people that reminded the citizens of San Fransokyo (especially its seniors) of the city's rich and brightly colored past, dating all the way back to the 1930s and 40s when the city didn't have too many tall skyscrapers. A prosperous, yet razzy time of gang wars, hoodlums, prohibition, tommy guns and a clue that would lead to the villain at the very last minute. But that was almost a century ago and the city had completely moved on, channeling the power of science and weapons industry into the full scale production of cybernetics and automatons, more commonly referred to as robots.
Since the rise of the science fiction classics of the 1980s, such as The Last Starfighter, Starchaser; The Legend of Orion as well as the novel Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card; robots have played a crucial role to modern human history in the field of industrial labor and artificial intelligence programming and there were hardly any of them to be served as a friend or a companion to another human being. Even if a young child wanted somebody to play with, regardless of whom that playmate would look like. But that was about to change.
Anyway, Sora, Donald and Goofy made their first stop at the Fletcher-Collins Bank (which was across the street from the bay) to pick up a loan from Donald's multi-billionaire uncle, Scrooge McDuck who had been informed about the tour. The loan was in a sealed white envelope containing $1000 in cash, which would seem like enough to finance the trio for how long their trip was going to be. On the other hand, the trio did not notice a police van in black that had been parked in front of the bank with its rear doors open.
As Sora turned to face the doors, they swung open as though they were alive, but Sora wasn't the type of person to believe that the supernatural was a threat to the physical world. Fortunately, he sidestepped just in time as a figure that appeared to be a midget in an old straw hat and a mustard yellow suit came soaring out the building as fast as a quail and landed chin first against the steel floor of the paddy wagon, followed by a larger figure, this time a muscular blonde haired woman who appeared to be about a size 22 and wore a flower hat with a red silk dress who slammed her face against the wall of the van that connected to the cab, nearly crushing the poor dwarf as she groaned in exhaustion.
Although he was said to be naïve, Sora and his two friends did not understand what happened until two more figures came from the door, a dark haired beat cop with none other than Dick Tracy by his left hand side.
"Take them away, Officer Mulligan," Tracy ordered the officer. As Officer Mulligan went to close the doors, Tracy noticed something that was touching his left foot; he looked down and saw a large St. Bernard dog resting his head against the boot, whimpering and nodding up and down in need of comfort.
Tracy turned back to Officer Mulligan. "And make sure the dog gets plenty of food and water before he gets sent to pound to find an honest owner," he added.
"Right, Tracy."
With another case solved, (a petty one for that matter) Tracy walked confidently down the steps of the bank and looked to see Sora, Donald and Goofy smiling at him. The spiky haired brunette had climbed over the railing to let him by and was waving his left hand with a nervous smile.
"Hi," he greeted.
Tracy said nothing. Instead, he greeted the trio with a tip of his fedora and set off on foot down the long street and back to the police station where his superior Chief Jim Brandon was waiting. As he walked his way around the corner, Tracy thought back on the newcomers he met three minutes ago. In all the times he had lived in San Fransokyo, he had never seen a spiky haired brunette, a dog and a duck before wearing clothes and could speak like humans. As though it were an archetype, a living museum or a dress code, anyone of Japanese heritage were all modern in fashion and style while everyone he knew on his side of the city who had an American heritage were all vintage and quite out of date. Up ahead, Tracy saw the parked police squad cars coming into view and he knew that the station was not too far ahead.
Inside his office, Jim Brandon, Tracy's boss, mentor and father figure was reading the funnies section on the morning tabloid of the Daily San Fransokyo Tribune. He appeared to be in his mid-sixties with a bald set of grey hair, a slightly heavy set body, a pointed nose and wore the typical uniform of a police chief. His white topped cap sat on his desk next to a digital clock that Brandon was using to count how long it would take for Tracy to get to a crime in progress and back again in a matter of five minutes.
"He's bound to be seven minutes late," thought the chief as he continued to read the comic strips. But just then, the door down the hallway came open and Tracy jogged his way into the open office while trying to catch a few whiffs of his breath.
"Sorry I'm late, chief," Tracy apologized. "Took a lot longer than I expected." Tracy looked at the digital clock; it read 6:59 AM before it changed to seven o'clock. "I see you have been counting the minutes," he added.
Chief Brandon put the newspaper down and shot a strict glare into Tracy's eyes, not looking very pleased for what he had to say. "Tracy, I have been counting how many seconds it would take for you to get to the Jerome Trohs and Mama case and back in 70 seconds,"
He pointed to a police map of San Fransokyo, which was littered with X's and circles drawn in a maroon color showing how many crimes took place over the last month and a half. "I am sure you haven't forgotten our motto."
Tracy directed his eyes at the bottom of the map and saw the city slogan; it was a quote by Eric Burdon in Japanese. "San Fransokyo no machi to hitobito ni, dare ga sore o shiranai kamo shirenaiga, karera wa utsukushīdesunode, jibun-tachi no machidesu."
"Translation?"
"To the city and people of San Fransokyo, who may not know it but they are beautiful and so is their city."
Tracy was very fluent in Japanese, being the city's secondary language next to English. As a matter of fact, he would use his knowledge of Japanese to communicate well with non-English speaking citizens, no matter what country they came from. Chief Brandon, however, wasn't a very patient man, but he always controlled himself whenever things got to the point.
"Tracy, weren't you supposed to be at breakfast with Tess this morning?"
Tracy nearly forgot, but he just bluffed it off with a tease. "And I think you are trying to get under her skin, eh?"
Chief Brandon blushed. Given his age, he wasn't exactly the ladies man he used to be anymore. It was also because of his age that he was to be taken out of service by the next year. His red cheeks soon faded as Tracy brought up the subject of Sora, Donald and Goofy.
"Also, after I had Jerome's dog Tip sent to the pound," Tracy explained. "I seemed to have met some foreigners: a spiky haired brunette with a silver pendant, a duck with a sailor suit and a dog in a green hat. If they're not from around here, I should say a little custom inspection might be in order."
"Unlike what happened the last time with Boris and Zora Arson," the chief muttered. Brandon could remember back to the day when two Russian siblings named Arson had illegally entered the country to plant nitro glycerin in six banks and rob them before the authorities could react, a crime that been prevented by a Native American named Chief Yellowpony who tracked them to their hideout in the mountains.
Before he could say anymore, the faint sound of tires screeching was heard in the distance. Believing it to be a getaway car in the midst of a shooting in progress, Brandon got up from his chair and he and Tracy looked out the right side window to see a light blue Cadillac Escalade zooming past the police station as if the driver was drunk out of his mind and ran past a stop sign before it slowed down, then sped up again.
"What the hell was that?!" asked Chief Brandon as the car sped away.
With his keen mind, Tracy carefully studied the details of the car and was able to make out the license plate number ABC-931. He knew who it was.
"That," Tracy said to the chief. "Got out of prison two years ago and is a problem... Alphonse 'Big Boy' Caprice. The murderer of my father-in-law Emil Trueheart, the kidnapper of my then wife-to-be Tess and the reason I became dedicated to fighting crime in San Fransokyo. From what the online reports have told us, Big Boy appears to have gone straight, but since he hasn't been active recently, I am beginning to think that he might be planning revenge on me for ruining his criminal empire."
"And he still had to be stopped," the chief concluded. "If it hadn't been for Big Boy, you wouldn't be here right now," Tracy couldn't image having any other job than a crime fighter or even a clerk at a delicatessen store.
Chief Brandon checked the clock, put his cap on his head and walked over to the coat rack by the door where he put on his dark blue overcoat. "If you need me, I will be at the diner having hot soup for breakfast, Tess and Toby will be there and Junior should be on his way to school right now,"
Tracy walked him over to the door before the chief turned back to face him. "But if you want to know something, Tracy, you can't prevent any crime from happening. If you're lucky enough, you will, but remember what I said about taking time to settle down, because one of these days...we may need another hero."
Tracy's face turned conceited, but secretly he worried about being replaced, even if he was a good man and a great investigator with five and a half years of experience on his record. After Chief Brandon had left the building, Tracy waited for moment or two before he decided to take the plunge and leave the office with a content smile that was looking forward to a brand new day.